Bat For Lashes on naked album cover ‘I wanted The Haunted Man to be raw’

Natasha Khan, also known as Bat For Lashes, has posed naked with a nude man thrown over her shoulder on the cover of her new album, The Haunted Man; explaining the shot as her way of honouring raw women like
Patti Smith.

Bat For Lashes’ third album, The Haunted Man, will be released in October (Picture: PA)

Khan added that she wanted to go against the ‘symbolic visual stuff going around lately’ by presenting the world with something that was minimal.

She told NME magazine: ‘I really wanted to strip things back in honour of women like Patti Smith; just these raw, honest women. I had no make-up on, it’s just me and my haunted man!’

In the photo in question, the Mercury Prize-nominated singer faces the camera dead-on in just a necklace, with a man slung over her shoulders as if brought back from a hunt.

The striking image was shot by US photographer Ryan McGinley, who is noted for his nude portraits and also provided the album cover for ambient Icelandic band Sigur Ros’s fifth album.

A message on Bat For Lashes website read: ‘Shot by the revered photographer Ryan McGinley, known for his naturalistic imagery, Natasha appears naked and carrying a man around her shoulders.’

Khan, the daughter of Pakistani squash professional Rahmat Khan, has been known for her eccentric costume, plumage and elaborate eye make-up, but for the cover she is bare-faced and wearing just a necklace and rings.

Her last album, Two Suns, saw Bat For Lashes invent a blonde alter ego named Pearl.

She has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize twice and won an Ivor Novello Award in 2010 for her single Daniel.